Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Urchin on September 27, 2006, 11:13:11 PM
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Ok, call me a cynic, but why have gas prices been going down?
All the reasons they went UP are still around - instability in the middle east, pinched domestic supply, increasing global demand, etc.
Yet, over the past few months, they've basically gone into free-fall. Gas is back down to $2.15 a gallon here, and it hasn't been that low in a couple years (maryland, 95 corridor).
The cynic in me says the republicans are telling the gas companies to drop their prices so they aren't an issue in the elections.
Any reasonable alternative?
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Summer travel season is over. Less demand = lower prices. You can get killer deals on spinach right now as well.
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Because gas prices are WAY overpriced to begin with. They can still continue to drop prices and make billions in profits
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Dick Cheney called his big oil buddies and ordered em to lower the price to make his republican friends look good in time for the elections :rolleyes:
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God is converting dead plant and animal matter into oil faster these days because of all the church-goers.
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oil priced are determined by trading.
it would be a good bet to expect prices to lower in the face of elections and increased government scrutiny.
it wont last.
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:noid
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It's all the new refineries we built
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Why are gasoline prices going down? Because oil prices are:
Brent Crude (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/chart?style=bbc-big_thick-line&ins=31.XBNT&from=2006-06-28%2004%3A49%3A23&to=2006-09-28%2004%3A49%3A23&src=historic&plot=value)
All the reasons they went UP are still around - instability in the middle east, pinched domestic supply, increasing global demand, etc.
There's less worry about the ME because the war in Lebanon has ended, the Iranians have thumbed their noses at the west and the west appears to have backed down. The supply situation in the US has eased because the summer season is over, the hurricane season hasn't brought any major disruption (there were fears of a repeat of last year). The markets also expect a decline in US economic growth which will push US consumption lower.
In short, many of the worries that were elevating the oil price have gone away, at least temporarily.
The cynic in me says the republicans are telling the gas companies to drop their prices so they aren't an issue in the elections.
How would that affect the price the rest of the world is paying for crude oil?
Gasoline is made from oil. When oil goes up, gasoline goes up. Oil consumption has been rising rapidly for the last few years, which has put a lot of pressure on supply. The instability in the ME and elsewhere has increased fears that supply might be cut, and that has caused a rise in prices.
That's all market driven, and nothing to do with politics. No government has enough money available to dictate the price of oil, although plenty of governments can act to increase/decrease supply/demand. Oil companies charge the going rate, what they can sell the oil for to any other customer. (The rest of the world is paying a similar price for oil as well)
So the US government hasn't "told" anyone to reduce the price of oil, but their actions (not confronting Iran directly) have helped reduce the price. If the US decides after the elections to increase pressure on Iran, or even attack them, expect the price to go back up.
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A lot of oil price rise is due to future speculation as well, and they just "proved" a huge oilfield in deep water in the gulf of Mexico. That's a big deal. There are huge oil reserves known to be there, but until oil prices skyrocketed it wasn't worth the startup investment to go get it. Well, one of those big evil oil companies put a billion or two into the tech to actually drill and pump it up from a mile or so underwater, and in doing so they opened up one of the largest oilfields in the world.
Even though they're not pumping yet, that has a HUGE effect on future oil supply and that's enough to drop oil prices back down. There is much less uncertainty in the global supply because of this new field, and combined with other news like the US not going gunzo against Iran and all that, it means that nobody is buying scared like they have been the last few years.
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what he said. (and very well i might add)
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i think all that "summer driving season" stuff is all BS, cause, u noe, school buses totaly run on teh fairy dust
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Oil prices are down because the United States plans to "liberate" Venezuela soon and we'll have all their oil :)
"Devil" eh...
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SO now that oil prices are down and oil companies stock prices have fallen now is the time to strike.
VLO
MRO
OXY
XOM
Buy em up and next time gas prices rise you can be happy instead of taking it up the #$%^
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what yeager said and if you don't vote republican YOUR gas will be $5 a gallon after Nov :)
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SUV's are not dead! Now's the time to get one!
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:noid